The Hell I anticipated was replaced by a tropical planet bustling with plant life. I look at it from inside my escape pod, used as a way of shipping us into the planet. The animals on the planet were apparently too dangerous to let onboard, without powersuits. Other similar white pods with reinforced windows blotted the atmosphere. There were 10’000 of us, after all. But letting us land at one point was too fair, and all of us were scattered around the planet with at least a kilometer between each participant.
I could feel the acceleration as the pod sped up immensely. The parachute was thrown out and considerably lessened the unstoppable momentum, lest I be squashed as the pod landed. Upon further inspection, I found out that I was landing in the middle of a forest, or jungle to be exact.
These trees looked eerily similar to ancient trees from Earth with green leaves and the shape was similar too. It wouldn’t take long for me to land.
‘Zero, is there a large amount of water on the planet or just small ponds?’ I asked her. Thinking out loud was almost reflexive now that I didn’t even question how it was possible. After some talk, I realized she wanted to be called a ‘she’ than an ‘it’.
“Negative. Only ponds and puddles are scattered around. Some are poisoned.” She said.
‘Can the purifier detox it?’
“Affirmative.”
The pod landed without much impact. It still makes me wonder what the parachutes are made of to survive so much heat and force. However, the most important issue now was living here.
The pod opened, creating a gush of steam. I quickly stood up after grabbing hold of my machine gun. It was charged with a lot of cement, enough for about 30 shots. After asking around for a bit, I found out the Shockwave generators had a cooldown of a minute in which they absorbed the air around it.
Although the air filter cleaned the air, it still kept the smell. It smelled like rotten eggs. The trees around me were around 20 meters in height and 4 in width. If the entire planet was like this, then it certainly wasn’t poisonous. But if it was in only this part of the forest, I think that it might be.
With a curiosity matched by none, I started examining the surrounding. To live here for a year and not die, I needed a hideout. Possibly one that I could conceal easily. The first thing to do was check for local predators or poisonous insects and the like. The noise canceller kept all the noise around me in a certain radius from getting out, but it didn’t simply destroy it. As such, I could hear my steps, but not anyone outside the range.
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The thick green leaves didn’t let much light into the forest below. It was stuck in a perpetual evening. My ears perk up as I look to the side. I heard the leaves crumble. With practiced speed, I hide behind a tree and await what would appear.
Nothing happened except a few bird chirps. Then I remember I’m on Val Zarin and the bird could be a giant dragon or the like. I grab a nearby rock and throw it to the place where the sound came from. A little pat sounded out and two giant toothy desks slammed together, and all that remained was the crushed remains of the rock.
‘Zero, what is that?’ I ask her for consolation.
“Negative. I am not designed to have knowledge of flora and fauna, only participants.” She answered with her normal mechanical tone.
I should’ve known. There was also another one called Edward which gave information about the fauna, but I didn’t really want to have a male A.I, so I put it away. I regret that now more than anything I ever did except running into Athena.
After some observation, I noticed although it was the same brown color as the ground, there were teeth sticking out of the ground. I told myself to check around for these things while walking, and memorize the landscape.
‘Zero, can you create a map according to the information you scan?’ I asked, to ease my workload even if by just a little bit.
‘Negative. It would be too convenient.’
I was half aware of her answer, but asking never hurt. Not when it was an emotionless A.I.
To not be lost, I took note of my pod and started marking the trees in a certain circle with ‘X’s after checking for any hostile plants. Luckily, the flytrap was the only plant that was remotely dangerous in the immediate area. Now I couldn’t help but wonder about the size of the planet.
My home planet, Charlotte, had a population of hundred thousand and the size was 0.4Ed. It stood for Earth Diameter and meant it was twice as small as Earth. As diverse as it got, cities were in about a hundred kilometers between them and each had about a thousand or two residents. If it was close to that size, then meeting others wouldn’t be as hard. Not to mention they filled the sky as we descended. There was one that was dangerously close as well.
My survivalist part overcame my curious side and I walked back to my pod. An idea then crossed my mind. A few times before, people took shelter inside their pods. But in the forest, it stood out too much and I’d be killed without any trouble.
Every month, the size of the arena would shrink from the full planet into a big city size. The shrink would happen slowly and people wouldn’t just be smashed. It was indicated with a large barrier which pushed on and on. If one were to leave the arena, then their suits would explode, leaving them to die to the predators or would kill them.
Then digging a hole was the best option. But without a shovel, it would be a lot harder than I’d like it to be. But if survival came at that cost, then I wouldn’t mind it that much. The most logical way would be to cut a little part of the trees and make a makeshift shovel. And so I did.